Read Aloud volunteers and preschoolers bond over books

It may take a village to raise a child, but in Sussex County it takes just one neighborhood to raise happy preschool readers.

About a year ago, Lisa Coldiron, former Read Aloud Delaware Sussex County coordinator, made a presentation at the Women’s Civic Club of Bethany Beach. Kathy McGirr and Peggy Tobin, two residents from the Seagrass Plantations community in Dagsboro, were so excited by what she had to say they signed up on the spot to volunteer for the children’s literacy program.

Read Aloud Delaware is a statewide organization founded in 1983 and dedicated to ensuring that each preschool child in the state is regularly read to one-on-one. In Sussex County, that goal is accomplished with more than 230 volunteers.

Another Seagrass neighbor, Chris Little, also heard Coldiron’s presentation and found it intriguing. Enthusiasm for the program quickly spread through the Seagrass neighborhood. Homeowner Maryanne Siegert said, “We are so blessed with all the stuff we have and the friends we have here. What can we do to pay it forward?” Read Aloud sounded like a good possibility.

So Coldiron made a second presentation at the Seagrass Plantations clubhouse. Of the 18 residents who attended, 12 immediately signed on as volunteers.

Meanwhile, Coldiron had been in touch with owner Leigh Scott and director Jackie Decker at Next Step Learning Center in Selbyville. They were anxious to have Read Aloud Delaware volunteers read to their students. It was a match made in heaven. Today there are 13 homeowners from the Seagrass community reading to preschoolers at Next Step.

“We love having them here,” said Decker. “The children love it. They get so excited when they see the volunteers come in, and the one-on-one interaction is so important.” Each volunteer spends approximately an hour a week at the learning center.

Karen Smith reads to 3- and 4-year-olds. When asked what she has gotten out of the experience, she chuckled and said, “Three colds!” On a more serious note, Smith said, “The one-on-one time with the little ones is fun. Sometimes they just say the darndest things!”

“Because we only go once a week, the children save up stories to tell you. It’s a blast! All you have to do is ask how their week was,” said volunteer Betsy Pietriyk.

The volunteers have their own stories to tell. Patty Paczan recalls one little girl who was very shy and didn‘t want to participate in reading. But the next time Paczan was there, the little girl was eager to join in. “These little kids are wonderful,” she said. After retirement, she had felt like she went from being super busy to doing nothing. “So this experience has been a godsend. This is an act of love,” said Paczan.

Adding the male perspective is volunteer Mike Siegert. After retiring from 41 years as a high school teacher, he, too, was looking for a way to get involved in the community. “I wanted to have more to my retirement than just loafing around,” he said, and after hearing about the Read Aloud program, “I just couldn’t say no.” He loves the enthusiam of the kids. When he first started reading at the center, the students all would run over to hug him when he arrived. Now the teacher has taught them to curb their excitement, and at the end of the hour there is a controlled group hug. “Basically I get tackled,” said Siegert. “Then the teacher says ‘Peel’ to end the hug!”

Maryanne Siegert and Mike Siegert act as site leaders at Next Step, coordinating volunteers, maintaining books, and completing the necessary paperwork. Decker said, “They do a great job, and are very good at communicating with the staff.”

Seagrass volunteers have become an integral part of the Next Step Learning Center family. Last Christmas, the volunteers made a generous monetary contribution to the school so additional books could be purchased for the classrooms. Maryanne Siegert said, “This was just another piece in the commitment of this community to Read Aloud and to children in general.”

“The school, too, has made a strong commitment to reading,” said Paczan.

When a new mural was being added to the school walls, and the teachers and students were contributing their own touches, Maryanne Siegert was asked to add a painting in honor of Read Aloud. Siegert sums up the enthusiam and enjoyment that the Seagrass volunteers have found in volunteering for Read Aloud Delaware: “There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to like it,” she said. “But I had no idea I was going to love it this much!”

For more information on Read Aloud Delaware, call 302-856-2527.